Latest / Marketing Automation with Fexingo: HubSpot, Marketo, and Automated Customer Journeys / The Toothpaste Tube Problem in Marketing Automation
Transcript
- Lucas: So I was at the pharmacy last week, and I picked up a tube of toothpaste. The same brand I've bought for years. And as I'm standing there, I get a push notification from them: 'Don't forget to reorder your toothpaste.' Except I just bought it. That's the moment I knew we had to talk about the toothpaste tube problem. Luna: The toothpaste tube problem? That sounds like a metaphor for something bigger. Lucas: Exactly. It's the disconnect between what a customer actually does and what your marketing automation thinks they did. For most brands, the purchase signal from a physical product never makes it back into the digital journey. So the system keeps nudging you to buy something you already have in your bathroom cabinet. Luna: And it's not just toothpaste. It's razors, soap, laundry detergent — anything you buy at a store. The automation doesn't know you bought it elsewhere, or even in their own app if it's not connected. Lucas: Right. And the result is wasted marketing spend and annoyed customers. But there's a company that actually solved this, and I think their approach is worth unpacking. It's a razor subscription service — you've probably heard of them. Luna: The ones that mail you blades every month? They seem to have figured out the subscription piece, but how do they handle the 'I already have enough' problem? Lucas: That's the thing. They built a system that tracks not just when they ship a new pack, but when the customer actually starts using it. They embedded a sensor in the razor handle. It connects to their app, so the automation knows the customer's usage pattern. If someone pauses their subscription because they have a three-month supply, the system doesn't send reorder reminders. It sends a check-in: 'Need more blades? You're all set until October.' Luna: That's a whole different approach. They're not just automating sends, they're automating the logic of when not to send. Lucas: Precisely. And the result is a better customer experience. Their churn rate dropped by 18 percent in the first year after they implemented that. Plus, their email engagement rates went up because every email that did arrive felt relevant. Luna: But wait, is that sensor thing realistic for most brands? I can't imagine a soap company embedding chips in every bar. Lucas: Fair point. The sensor is their moonshot. But the core insight is transferable. You don't need a sensor. You need to connect your CRM to your supply chain data. If you know when a product was delivered or when a subscription renews, you can suppress the 'buy again' email for 90 days. That's what the smartest brands are doing. Luna: So the problem is really a data integration problem, not a marketing problem. Lucas: Exactly. Most marketing automation platforms are brilliant at sending messages but terrible at knowing what actually happened after the click. They rely on web events and email opens, not real-world usage. And that's where the toothpaste tube problem thrives. Luna: And you know what, this reminds me of a story I read about a coffee subscription service. They started asking customers how many cups they drink a day, and then they adjusted their delivery schedule accordingly. That's a low-tech version of the same idea. Lucas: That's a great example. It's about building the trigger on the customer's actual consumption, not on a fixed calendar. And look, this is exactly the kind of conversation we have on this show — practical, grounded in real cases, and free of any sponsor pushing their product on you. That's something we're proud of. Luna: Yeah, we really do keep this ad-free. And if you appreciate that, you can support the show at buy me a coffee dot com slash fexingo. It's a simple way to keep these conversations going without any corporate interruptions. Lucas: And we mean it when we say it's optional. We're not going to beg. But if you've ever learned something here that you actually used, that's the best reason to throw a coffee our way. Anyway, back to the toothpaste tube — the other side of this problem is the privacy trade-off. Luna: Oh, that's a good point. Because to know if someone bought toothpaste, you either need them to scan a receipt in your app, or you need to track their purchase data from a loyalty card, or — worst case — you use a sensor. How much data is too much? Lucas: Right. And the razor company's sensor is a legit privacy question. They ask for explicit consent, and they're transparent about what they collect. But not every brand handles that well. Some are tempted to buy third-party purchase data from data brokers, which is a whole different can of worms. Luna: And that can backfire. If a customer finds out you bought their purchase history without their knowledge, that's a trust breach that no automation can fix. Lucas: Exactly. The brands that get it right are the ones that treat the customer's data as a partnership. They ask for it, they explain why, and they give something in return — like a personalized experience that actually respects their time. That's the difference between a trigger that feels helpful and one that feels creepy. Luna: So what's the practical takeaway for a marketer listening right now? If they can't afford sensors, what should they do tomorrow? Lucas: Start with the data you already have. If you're a D2C brand, you probably have order data in your ecommerce platform. Sync that with your marketing automation. Then create a simple suppression rule: if a customer bought a refill within the last 30 days, don't send the refill reminder. That alone can reduce email volume by 15 percent and increase click-through rates, because the remaining emails are more relevant. Luna: And that's not just for physical products. Is there an equivalent for digital services? Lucas: Absolutely. Think about SaaS. If a user has already upgraded their plan, you shouldn't be sending them the 'upgrade to Pro' email. It's the same principle. The trigger needs to be suppressed based on lifecycle stage, not just on the initial event. Luna: So the real enemy is not the automation itself, it's the silos between systems. Lucas: You said it. Marketing automation flourishes when it has clean, connected data. The toothpaste tube problem is just the most visible symptom of a broken data pipeline. Fix the pipeline, and you fix the experience. Luna: I love that. And it's a good reminder that the next big leap in marketing automation isn't going to be a new AI tool — it's going to be connecting the dots between what we already know. Lucas: Exactly. So next time you get that 'reorder now' email while your bathroom is full of toothpaste, just remember: it's not the marketer's fault, it's the data's fault. And now you know how to fix it. Luna: And maybe we'll see fewer of those emails in the future. Thanks for listening, everyone. Lucas: We'll be back tomorrow with another angle on automation that you can actually use. Until then, keep your data clean.